2024 Clay Camps

SPRING BREAK: CLAY CAMP

MARCH 25 – MARCH 29

Turn your “blank canvasses” into masterpieces as you learn a variety of clever tricks and techniques to create colorful and captivating surface designs on your clay projects. Campers will:

• Create a gradient effect on a series of plates using colored slips.
• Create monochromatic designs on a thrown or sculpted project.
• Make a series of bas-relief tiles embellished with bold textures and colors.

WEEK 1: CLAY CAMP

JUNE 17 – JUNE 21

Let your imagination run away with you as we create wild and crazy creatures! Learn how to give your monsters and magical beasts personality and make them look friendly or fierce. Campers will:

• Exaggerate shapes, proportions, and textures to design creatures inspired by the monstrous artwork of James DeRosso.
• Make a monster mask using soft-slab construction.
• Create a candy dish in the shape of a magical beast using pinch pot techniques.

WEEK 2: CLAY CAMP

JUNE 24 – JUNE 28

Do you love to build things? Our excitement is rising for what’s in store this week as we brainstorm designs, practice our construction skills, and sculpt architectural forms. Campers will:

• Use hard slab construction techniques to build an architectural structure. It could be anything from a treehouse to a skyscraper!
• Design templates to aid with the construction of complex, 3-dimensional forms.
• Design a form that serves two purposes and increases convenience for the user, such as a mug that can also hold cookies or a soup bowl that also holds crackers.

WEEK 3: CLAY CAMP (3-DAY CAMP WEEK)

JULY 1 – JULY 3

In this special 3-Day Handbuilding Camp, learn how designers and makers balance form with function. What things do we need to consider as we set out to create objects that are both visually appealing and that effectively serve a purpose? Campers will:

• Use extruded clay tubes to create a functional form that they can use at home. It could be anything from desktop accessories, a toothbrush holder, a mug, or more!
• Use soft slab construction to make a serving dish for a randomly selected (and potentially silly) special occasion, such as International Doughnut Day, and more!

*Important notes for this 3-Day Handbuilding Camp: Due the short week, campers will create handbuilding projects only. They will not be using the pottery wheel.

WEEK 4: CLAY CAMP

JULY 8 – JULY 12

Learn how clay can interact with light in mesmerizing ways. Make sculptures that glow when a light is placed inside them and construct forms with cut-out decorative designs. Campers will:

• Sculpt a decorative tealight holder.
• Create a luminary that will radiate beautiful patterns of light and can double as a pencil holder.
• Make an architectural structure with cut-out designs.

WEEK 5: CLAY CAMP

JULY 15 – JULY 19

Pottery is often created for the purpose of serving or containing food. What better way to celebrate that purpose than to use food as our inspiration for a series of projects? Campers will:

• Create a bowl, plate, or cup that is designed as an optical illusion to look like food. Perhaps you make a plate that looks like a pizza, or a bowl that looks like a donut!
• Design a jar in the shape of a favorite food.
• Hand-build a spread of delicious mini foods.

WEEK 6: CLAY CAMP

JULY 22 – JULY 26

So many fish in the sea and so many sculptures to be made! This week, we will find inspiration in the ocean’s colors, patterns, and textures! Campers will:

• Make a lidded jar inspired by clamshells, seashells, or other sea life.
• Make an exotic fish dish, embellished with bold textures and designs.
• Carve a texture found in ocean creatures into a thrown or sculpted form.

WEEK 7: CLAY CAMP

JULY 29 – AUGUST 2

Give your sculptures plenty of personality this week as we explore the art of character design. Campers will try their hand at making fantastic, dynamic characters and more as they:

• Sculpt a 3-D version of a famous cartoon character. Give consideration to form and proportion.
• Design a superhero or villain figurine.
• Make a sculpture that features two opposite facial expressions.

WEEK 8: CLAY CAMP

AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 9

Join us as we journey back to medieval times and create a series of treasured projects inspired by the artwork of that era! This week is guaranteed to be absolutely legendary as campers:

• Sculpt a magnificent dragon or gargoyle.
• Design and make a shield with a personal crest on it.
• Use hand-building techniques to construct a towering castle.

WEEK 9: CLAY CAMP

AUGUST 12 – AUGUST 16

Take a walk on the wild side and join us as we find inspiration in the vibrant colors, exotic patterns, and unusual shapes found in a myriad of stunning creatures around the world. Campers will:

• Create a sculpture inspired by a silly animal phrase or idiom, such as “when pigs fly”, “playing possum”, “fish out of water”, etc.
• Make a lidded jar that has animal-like characteristics.
• Create an exotic bird-shaped planter.

WEEK 10: CLAY CAMP

AUGUST 19 – AUGUST 23

Time flies when you’re having fun! This week we will take a sneak peek at what the future holds. How will things be different 1000 years from now? Will there be new trends in design? With this in mind, campers will:

• Build a robot using hard slab construction techniques.
• Alter a thrown form to take on the characteristics of a spaceship.
• Reimagine an everyday object and sculpt what it will look like 1000 years from now. Consider how that object can be improved upon. Will it have additional functionality?